EASTERN CONFERENCE
WIZARDS 109, HAWKS 101
WASHINGTON -- In a rough-and-tumble, foul-filled game, Bradley Beal took over in the fourth quarter with 16 of his 31 points, including a late three-pointer, helping the Washington Wizards beat the Atlanta Hawks 109-101 on Wednesday night for a 2-0 lead in their Eastern Conference first-round series.
John Wall finished with 32 points and 9 assists, including the assist to Beal on his three-pointer with 38 seconds remaining that sealed the victory for the Wizards.
Washington, which trailed 78-74 entering the final quarter, won despite only a combined seven points from starting forwards Markieff Morris and Otto Porter Jr., who were both in foul trouble early.
The series shifts to Atlanta for Game 3 on Saturday.
Paul Millsap led the Hawks with 27 points and 10 rebounds, and Dennis Schroder scored 23 points. Dwight Howard had only seven rebounds, half his Game 1 total, and scored six points.
Millsap scored 14 points in the third quarter, including six during a 13-0 run that took the Hawks from a deficit to a 74-67 edge with a little more than 3½ minutes left in that period. But Beal and Wall were too much in the fourth, with some help from backup point guard Brandon Jennings, who accounted for eight consecutive Wizards points during one stretch -- making three baskets and assisting on another.
After Washington won the series opener over the weekend, Millsap bemoaned aloud about how things went, saying: "The difference in the game is we were playing basketball and they were playing MMA."
That became a talking point during the off days, and perhaps affected the way Game 2 was called. The officials seemed determined to use their whistles upon seeing anything resembling a foul. Whatever debate might be had about how justified all the calls were, the interruptions disrupted the flow of the game.
Washington led 51-43 at halftime. There were 29 personal fouls called in the opening 24 minutes, 55 for the game.
There was plenty of complaining by the Wizards throughout, and when sixth man Kelly Oubre Jr. got his fourth and joined Morris and Porter on the sideline, the team was whistled for a delay-of-game foul, its second, resulting in a technical.
About 30 seconds later, Howard picked up his fourth foul, while teammate Kent Bazemore was at four entering the last quarter, too.
When another couple of calls went against Washington in the third quarter, many voices in the sellout crowd of 20,356 rose in unison for full-throated chants of derision directed at the officials.
WESTERN CONFERENCE
ROCKETS 115, THUNDER 111
HOUSTON -- James Harden scored 35 points and the Houston Rockets overcame 51 points from Russell Westbrook in a triple-double, clawing back from a double-digit deficit for a victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder to take a 2-0 lead in the first-round Western Conference playoff series.
Westbrook set a franchise playoff scoring record and added 13 assists and 10 rebounds in the most points ever scored in a postseason triple-double. It was the sixth career playoff triple-double for Westbrook, who had an NBA-record 42 in the regular season.
But the Rockets contained him long enough in the fourth quarter to surge ahead, then hold on.
Game 3 is Friday night in Oklahoma City.
The game was tied before Houston scored 10 consecutive points with three-pointers from Harden, Patrick Beverley (Arkansas Razorbacks) and Eric Gordon to make it 114-104 with 1:22 remaining.
Sports on 04/20/2017